Heat Transfer Analysis And Optimization Of Heat Pipe Radiator Used In Space

As an important heat dissipating system in spacecrafts, the radiator is the main heat-exchanging device between the spacecraft and the outer space; therefore it forms one of those most important components in the spacecraft. With the development of space technology, the application of some high-power electrical components increases both the heat density and the radiator itself. As is well known that the saving the weight is one of the universal principles of spacecraft design. Based on this concept, the heat transfer analysis and the corresponding optimization to the heat-pipe radiator are taken as the main purpose in the current study.As first step, the heat transfer model is established so that the performance mechanism can be analyzed. And then it is made clear what steps need to determine the size and the weight of the radiator on the condition of provided heat load. With MATLAB programme, the relation between the radiator size/weight and the fin parameters can be calculated. After a series of calculation for search, the optimized heat pipe-space and fin-thickness corresponding to the minimum weight of the radiator is decided finally. In addition, the effect of the parameters of the working fluid, as well as the heat flux from the out space, on the radiator can also be presented at the same time.In the second part, the basic theoretic and the implementation process of the Genetic Algorithm has been introduced, which include the chromosome coding, the fitness function, the genetic operator, and the standard of the termination. Furthermore, the Simple Genetic Algorithm (SGA) is applied to determine the optimum structural parameters of the heat-pipe radiator located on the north and south side of the Three-axis stabilized satellite in the geosynchronous orbit. It has been also verified that how is the variation of the crossover rate and the mutation rate impacting the convergence of the Genetic algorithm and its population diversity.Finally, the Simple Genetic Algorithm and the Adaptive Genetic Algorithm (AGA) are used for the design of a practical heat-pipe radiator that keeps a fixed heat load. In optimizing the width of the radiator fins, the Simple Genetic Algorithm results in a radiator that is lighter in weight than what is gotten from the enumeration method. In addition, in optimizing the structural parameters of the heat pipe radiator and the parameters of working fluid, the AGA produces a lighter radiator than the SGA does.